Mooseheads' Somppi close to making return

Forward Otto Somppi is close to returning to the Halifax Mooseheads’ lineup. (RYAN TAPLIN / Staff)

OTTO SOMPPI is almost ready to play his first game of the 2017-18 hockey season.

The 19-year-old Finn dislocated his shoulder in March and underwent surgery during the off-season. The Tampa Bay Lightning seventh-round pick won’t play in the Halifax Mooseheads’ two home games this weekend but head coach Jim Midgley isn’t ruling out a return next weekend.

“He’s been skating since training camp and he’s real close,” Midgley said. “He’s still wearing a non-contact jersey (in practice) but he’s making progress. When he was down in Tampa he wasn’t participating in practice but he was doing some skill drills, like one-on-ones or two-on-twos.

“Right now he’s getting hit a little bit but not engaging in hitting, if you know what I mean. I would think he’ll start looking to initiate contact in the next seven to 10 days, so he’s getting there.

“It’s just a strength issue right now. He’s been working on that with our strength coach (Chris Pierce) and our therapist Robin (Hunter) has been working with him too, so he’s close.”

Somppi is a well-rounded centre who can fill almost any role. He is a third-year player who can score and set up plays, but is also strong defensively.

“Otto’s probably our best faceoff guy and arguably one of our best penalty killers, and he can play the power play as well,” Midgley said. “He’s a good all-around player and he’s also an older guy so he brings experience. We don’t have that many 19-year-olds so we’re really looking forward to getting him back. He adds more depth to our lineup and I can’t wait to get him back. He’s an assistant captain and a leader, and I know he’s getting sick of just practising. He’s anxious to play some games.”

Midgley hasn’t decided yet where Somppi will slot into his line combinations, saying he is mostly just enthused by all the different options he’ll have at his disposal once all his forwards are healthy.

“(Benoit-Oliver) Groulx and (Maxime) Fortier have have been good together but I also like Somppi playing with Fortier, so we’ll see,” Midgley said. “That was a good line for us last year. We could always put Otto at centre and move (Raphael) Lavoie or Groulx over to wing but I do like how Groulx has been playing in the middle; same for Raphael. I’ll want to try a few things out before I settle on anything but I like the way the guys are playing right now and I’m excited about the depth we’ll have with Otto back in there. It’s a good issue to have.”

The return dates for injured defencemen Walter Flower (shoulder) and Jordan Lepage (hip) are much further away. Flower is the closer of the two to coming back but it’s still looking like he’ll be out until mid-November.

“I think he’s probably five or six weeks away from playing,” Midgley said. “It’s also going to be a strength issue with him. But he’s shooting the puck and he’s able to snap it now so there are lots of positives with him.

“Flower has been practising in non-contact drills and he’s been able to do more but he and Lepage are still going to be out for a while. Lepage has been skating on his own or with (assistant coach) John (Greenwood) and Flower, so it’s been good to see them both on the ice. They’re on the right path and they’re training and Lepage is putting some weight and muscle back on. It’s going well for both of them.”

The Mooseheads host the Quebec Remparts on Friday and the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday. Halifax (4-1) and Quebec (4-0) head into the game tied with three other teams for first place overall.

“Quebec’s only been scored on three times this year so that’s going to be a good test for us,” Midgley said. “It should be two good games.”